Slight headwinds as iPad Air takes off

An Apple store's first customer of the day displays a package containing Apple's new iPad Air tablet in Tokyo on Friday, Nov 1, 2013. For Mr Takaaki Sasak, being at the front of a Tokyo queue as the new iPad debuted around the world was his way of saying "thank you" to Apple after a year that turned his life around. -- PHOTO: AFP

TOKYO (AFP) - For one Japanese man, being at the front of a Tokyo queue as the new iPad debuted around the world was his way of saying "thank you" to Apple after a year that turned his life around.

Takaaki Sasaki was one of hundreds who poured into Apple's flagship store in the glitzy Ginza district on Friday as the doors opened on the latest tablet offering from the sector's agenda-setter.

The launch had little of the razzmatazz of previous iPads or iPhones, with potential customers perhaps swayed by a critical reception that was largely positive but dominated by the theme that the iPad Air was no game-changer.

The worldwide rollout kicked off Down Under, with Apple in Australia saying there were queues outside its stores when the doors opened, with several hundred people reportedly lining up outside its flagship Sydney outlet.